Although the house on the mountain this time only has two main rooms, it is covered with tiles, has brick and stone walls, and has a wide eaves.
There was also a small hut for Peggy to use, lined with hay, where she could come and go freely without needing to be fenced off outside the yard.
Outside the new house is a gently sloping grove of trees, and a small path leads directly to the shed where the piglets and the old mule live.
This gentle slope will gradually be built up to become flat ground, which is safer than the previous high cliff, so that Caixia won't have to fall again.
The road leading to Xiaoman's house next door is a paved, flat road covered with sand and gravel, making it convenient for children and the elderly to come and go, and even Xu Dazhu can come by himself.
The house was finally completed before the New Year. When they moved down the cliff, Jiang Zhi cooked a meal in the new house, and the two families, along with Li Laoshi, celebrated together.
Li Laoshi, gnawing on a greasy chicken leg, looked at the several plates of dark, mushy dishes on the table and chuckled, "Sister Jiang, is this spicy rabbit? Did this rabbit crawl into the stove hole?"
Now we have more food options. Although we can't eat pork freely, the chickens and rabbits we raise at home are enough to satisfy the meat needs of both families.
Eggs, in particular, are something the two children can eat every day.
This time, Jiang Zhi killed a chicken and skinned two rabbits, and excitedly made cold pot rabbit and spicy rabbit cubes for everyone.
That's the good thing about being in the mountains; you can eat whatever you want and do whatever you want without worrying about what others say.
If it were in the village, the neighbors would be eating cornstarch porridge and sweet potato porridge, and the family wouldn't be able to enjoy a good meal.
Unfortunately, Jiang Zhi's cooking skills are inconsistent, and the final product depends on fate.
The cold pot rabbit dish didn't turn out well; the spicy rabbit cubes were overcooked and a bit burnt, and the chili peppers were also burnt. However, the taste was still good—crispy, fragrant, and spicy, making you want to have a second bite after just one bite.
Qiaoyun and Xiaoman especially loved it, breathing out "Xixi, haha" because it was so spicy.
Nini also liked it, and she suffered the most from the spiciness.
Cry once, eat a bite, then drink a sip of cooled rice porridge to calm down.
Her lips were red, her face was red, even her nose and eyes were red. After recovering, she ate again, and neither Xiaoman's grandmother nor Chunfeng could stop her.
When Li Laoshi honestly told her that her cooking skills were bad, Jiang Zhi raised an eyebrow, took a breath, and didn't argue with him. She just casually said, "If you can't eat rabbit meat, there's still chicken soup. There are tonics in the chicken soup today, so everyone should drink more."
Li Laoshi had to carry things up the mountain every day to repair the house, and it was quite tiring to return to the village at night.
Upon hearing that there was a tonic, Li Laoshi quickly drank the soup: "Hehe, I knew Sister Jiang wouldn't mistreat people. What are you shipping tomorrow? Do you need sand? Lime? Should we go to town to buy some New Year's goods?"
He enjoys running errands as long as he doesn't have to do heavy work.
Jiang Zhi shook her head, indicating that she didn't need to carry anything anymore. Instead, she said to Xu Dazhu, "Dazhu, you should drink more. You must have been tired from sitting for the past few days. If you feel unwell, you should tell us. Don't hide it from anyone."
Xu Dazhu has difficulty walking and has been laying bricks all day. The action of raising his arms high for a long time makes him more tired than a normal person.
But he never complained about being tired; he insisted on working alongside everyone else, so considerate that it made everyone feel sorry for him.
Xu Dazhu smiled and said, "Aunt Jiang, I'm much better than before. I'm a little tired during the day, but I'll be fine after a good night's sleep."
Chunfeng remained silent, only quietly serving Xu Dazhu chicken soup.
She was his wife, so she naturally knew that Xu Dazhu was sleeping face down in the middle of the night because of back pain, but she wouldn't let him say it.
Xu Dazhu said that if his grandparents and Aunt Jiang knew, they definitely wouldn't let him do any work.
Anyway, exercising every day is tiring, and working is just as tiring, so it's more interesting than just standing around exercising.
Chunfeng felt sorry for him.
However, seeing that although he was exhausted every day, his leg movements were becoming stronger each day, I knew that this exercise was good for him, so I could only let him be.
Besides the rabbit that Jiang Zhi made, there was also a pot of yam and he shou wu chicken soup on the table.
The vine of Polygonum multiflorum is called night-blooming jasmine, which can nourish the heart and calm the mind, dispel wind and unblock the meridians. It is used for insomnia, excessive dreaming, rheumatic joint pain, and itchy rashes.
Polygonum multiflorum (He Shou Wu). Raw Polygonum multiflorum can detoxify and lubricate the intestines to relieve constipation. Processed Polygonum multiflorum nourishes the liver and kidneys, replenishes essence and blood, strengthens muscles and bones, and darkens hair.
After Xia Xiucai fell ill during the rainstorm, Jiang Zhi gave Xia's mother some mimosa flowers and night-blooming jasmine vines to brew tea for Xiucai.
When they're in the mountains, the two families usually stew chicken with kudzu root, he shou wu (Polygonum multiflorum), or tanssa grass.
Today's chicken soup has another ingredient added: climbing ginger.
Drynaria fortunei, also known as cliff ginger, meat drynaria, or flying rat, has the effects of tonifying the kidneys and strengthening bones, promoting blood circulation and relieving pain, and promoting tendon and bone healing.
This type of fern, which grows on rock walls or trees, has leaves similar to those of ordinary ferns, but its rhizomes are covered with a layer of long, golden, fuzzy scales that resemble long, hairy dog paws, making it quite adorable.
Also known as "bone-strengthening herb", it can treat toothache and back pain caused by kidney deficiency, and is an essential medicine for treating sprains and bruises.
It is now a Class II protected plant in China, and due to its rarity, it was listed as Near Threatened in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2013.
Because these medicinal herbs are not cultivated on a large scale, the amount that grows naturally on the mountain is only enough for our own consumption and cannot be sold for profit.
With improved living standards and no worries about food, Grandpa and Grandma Xiaoman seem to have become several years younger than when they first came up the mountain, and they are always happy to see their big family.
Little Man said to Li Laoshi, whose mouth was greasy from eating, "Laoshi! Come help kill the chickens early during the New Year, then I won't have to ask you again!"
There are only a few days left until Lunar New Year's Eve. Last year, Mr. Li invited us to have our reunion dinner as guests.
This year, we asked him to come and work early, treating him like family.
Li Laoshi nodded hurriedly: "Old man, I'm coming, you can't chase me away even if you try!"
Everyone laughed, and then, changing the subject, Xiaoman asked about how to send New Year's gifts to Xiang Dejin and the others in the city...
Jiang Zhi thought for a moment and said, "I just went to deliver it last month during the Lesser Fullness of Grain. Xiang Dejin and the others are not outsiders. It's inconvenient to go on the way because of the rain. Let's go again later!"
Xiaomanye agreed, so he didn't bring it up again.
At this time, the craftsmen in the village were working hard to finish the house, and Xia Xiucai's house was completed before the Lunar New Year.
The house has green tiles and white walls, and smells strongly of tung oil.
Xia Xiucai was particularly pleased with it. He watched over the repairs every day, and as soon as they were finished, he moved in and built a stove before the walls were even dry, wanting to spend the New Year in the new house.
As the year draws to a close, it's the time to prepare for the New Year, but no one in Xujia Village seems inclined to go out.
The construction of the new house was a village-wide effort, with no labor or food expenses incurred. However, in order to buy timber for the roof beams and hire carpenters to make doors and windows, each household still emptied their savings and even sold their grain.
But each household was still satisfied.
When I arrived in Xujia Village this time last year, I was empty-handed and living in fear. Now I have a house and land, and I don't go hungry.
In any case, having a place to shelter from the wind and rain is a sign of having a solid foothold. As long as the weather is favorable next year, the granaries will be full, and it won't be too late to buy more clothes.
During the Lunar New Year, people are reluctant to buy candy for their children, so they fry a few sweet potato strips to appease their mouths, or fry a handful of popped rice and corn, which are then given to each other by several families.
Lotus looked longingly at the basket of freshly picked rose hips at home, which were also prepared as snacks.
She is now more than two months pregnant, and even after eating a bowl of sweet potato and corn porridge at every meal, she still feels empty and craves it.
But she dared not eat the candy, because medicine is three parts poison, and she had to watch what she ate.
Xu Genqing was getting anxious, as all the money in his household had been used up.
Aunt Jiang once said that if the village really needed money to repair houses, they could borrow money, as long as they found someone to write an IOU and they could guarantee each other's loans.
He wanted to borrow money from Aunt Jiang to buy some meat for Lianhua.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com